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In this episode of Holding the Line: A Logistics at a Crossroads Podcast, Gia widens the lens — because the story didn’t stop with BNPL or post-pandemic credit traps.
Now the bills are breaking people long before the debt collectors do.

Across the country, utilities are cutting power as prices surge. Electricity rates have jumped 11% since January, triple the rate of inflation. Families paid an average of $204 in July — the highest on record since 2008. And millions of low-income households are still waiting on federal energy assistance that stalled during the government shutdown.

Gia connects the dots no one wants to say out loud:

🔹 When wages don’t move but utilities do, survival requires math that no family can sustain.
🔹 When electricity becomes a luxury, the economy is already in crisis.
🔹 When essentials require financing, the supply chain feels the quake next.

Episode 39 expands on the threads from Episodes 37 and 38 — the cost of convenience, the rise of BNPL, and the quiet financial emergencies unfolding in kitchens, bedrooms, and now at the breaker box.

Gia dives into:

• The national rise in power shutoffs — and who’s hit first
• Why electric bills have become the newest “unpayable invoice”
• How the shutdown delayed life-or-death heating assistance
• The connection between consumer strain, freight shifts, and retail contraction
• What happens when families can’t keep the lights on — literally or financially

This is more than a money issue.
It’s a warning flare.

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Find me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/reginahunter
Visit the blog: giakat.blogspot.com